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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27606389">A Little Cabin in the Woods</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swamp_Dog/pseuds/Swamp_Dog'>Swamp_Dog</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cabin, Cozy, F/M, friendship time</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:46:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,766</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27606389</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swamp_Dog/pseuds/Swamp_Dog</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>While working non-stop to clean up after the events of RE6, Leon gets a chance to escape and finally talk to Ada alone, no zombies or governments or secret organizations involved. The meeting location just happens to be in a little mountain-side winter cabin as far from civilization as they could get.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Leon S. Kennedy/Ada Wong</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>It's really just the two of them trying to figure each other out, and Leon being made of trauma, as he does. There are pajamas.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            Leon’s keys jingled as he unlocked the door to his apartment, stepping inside lethargically. Cool evening air briefly swept in behind him before he closed the door and set his keys on the counter, then started sloughing off his jacket.</p><p>            “I need…a vacation,” he sighed. The clean-up after the latest bioterrorism attack was taking months, with half-viable paranoid leads dropping in constantly for him to investigate, usually leading to a dead end.</p><p>He was about to go flop into a chair and vegetate in front of the TV for an indeterminate number of hours, but a piece of mail he’d set on the counter earlier caught his attention. It was addressed to him in delicate handwriting that struck him as familiar, but it didn’t have a return address. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands before tearing the top open. When he unfolded the letter, he took in a breath sharply, eyes widening.</p><p>There was a very familiar deep red lipstick print in the bottom right corner. He felt his face heating up as he read.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Leon</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>You always want to talk, but we’re always both so busy with work. Why don’t you visit for a bit when things are quieter, and we can have a chat? Don’t take too long deciding, I won’t stay in one place forever. Be sure you aren’t followed.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>P.S. Pack warm.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
</p><p>A set of coordinates was written down in the other corner, and some vague driving directions that he assumed would make sense when he got closer…if he decided to go to the coordinates.</p><p>He ran a hand through his hair. After all this time, she was finally willing to talk to him? The letter was so incredibly vague. How long would he even be there? A few hours, a few days? Does one pack a shower kit for a trip to…where did the coordinates go anyway?</p><p>At least one thing he could figure out. He moved to his desk and opened the laptop, plugging the coordinates into a map. They led him to the middle of bum-diddly nowhere, up on the side of a mountain. If he looked closely at the satellite image however, he could just barely make out a path, and some kind of small structure among the trees. It was a good four hour drive from where he was at least.</p><p>A camping trip. Okay.</p><p>He sat back in the chair and stared at the satellite image for a good long while, tapping his fingers on the desk. His other hand rubbed at the five o’clock shadow along his jaw.</p><p>‘Pack warm’ meant he would be there for more than a day, he guessed. He didn’t have any way to contact her to let her know if he was going to show or when. He would have to get a leave cleared with the BSAA…</p><p>After several more minutes of staring, he picked up his phone and hit a contact he had on speed dial.</p><p>“Hunnigan, do you think I could get a few days off?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            Leon kept a white-knuckle grip on the wheel as he cautiously pushed his overlander up the narrow road. He must have gone through thirty different scenarios in his head for how this meeting would go for the last four hours, but now he didn’t dare think of anything but keeping his vehicle from going off the side of a mountain. He had started early, and now that it was late morning he was nearly there.</p><p>            The path finally levelled off to a little clearing surrounded by trees, most of which had a few, scattered autumn leaves still hanging on. A small log cabin sat noticeably in the middle, with a beat-up little truck tucked beside it. He started to wonder if he’d actually been summoned up here to conveniently disappear.</p><p>            He parked, cut the engine, and stepped out of the vehicle. Cold air crept around him, and he pulled his jacket tighter. He scanned the area, like he always did, before stepping through the crunchy leaves toward the door. There didn’t seem to be any movement, no sounds he could make out. Had the letter gotten to him too late? Did he miss her after all that? He took a deep breath, and knocked.</p><p>            A latch came undone on the other side of the door, and then another, before it creaked open and a familiar figure stood in the threshold.</p><p>            Or at least, mostly familiar. Ada seemed smaller somehow, maybe because he’d mostly seen her in high heels, and now she was in…slippers? She was in slippers and a much more rugged outfit than he’d ever seen, and she was smirking at him.</p><p>            “You certainly didn’t waste any time, did you? I thought you’d have to wade through some paperwork to get a mysterious trip cleared.”</p><p>            Leon’s breath condensed in a little cloud that looked exactly like his current thoughts at the moment. An ambiguous fog.</p><p>            “This place… is really hard to find…”</p><p>            “Well yeah, it’s where I go when I don’t want to be found, I thought that was obvious… come in, you’re letting my warm air out.”</p><p>            She stepped back and let him walk past her, into a small, cozy space that might have had three or four separate rooms to it in total. Noticing her boots by the door, he slipped his off as well.</p><p>            “Were you just…waiting for things to calm down? Why did you send that letter now, Ada? Who are you hiding from way out here?”</p><p>            She closed the door and gave him a sly smile.</p><p>            “Who am I <em>not</em> hiding from? Half the world’s authorities and half the people tied with Umbrella want to find me, for several reasons. You can have a seat on the couch over there. Do you want coffee or tea?”</p><p>            “Uh…coffee’s good.” He squinted suspiciously, never sure if she answered his questions completely or not, but he headed for the couch. A fire crackled in the fireplace while he sank into the couch, and Ada put a kettle on a gas stove.</p><p>            “How’s work been? I imagine it’s been pretty non-stop for the BSAA.” She leaned against the small kitchen counter, hand on her hip.</p><p>            “It’s been hectic, yeah. Everybody and their brother thinks they know somebody who might have been involved, or might still be. What about you? What have you been doing?”</p><p>            She gave a little hum.</p><p>            “I tied up some loose ends, kept the channels open I might need for later, and then decided to disappear for a bit. Take a little break.”</p><p>            She pulled the steaming kettle from the stove and started making coffee while Leon watched, head tilting a bit. After a few moments she handed him a mug.</p><p>            He thought she would sit down in the chair across from him, or maybe on the other end of the couch, but no. She planted herself right next to him, one leg tucked under her, and one arm on the back of the couch.</p><p>            He could see more little things he hadn’t noticed before. She didn’t have her signature red lipstick on, or any make up for that matter. Her hair was a bit longer than he remembered as well.</p><p>            He must have been staring at her like she was an alien, however, because she gave a little laugh.</p><p>            “You don’t have to think of all your questions right now. We’ve got plenty of time. If… you’re staying for a little while?”</p><p>            He sipped his coffee, which had slightly more cream and sugar than he would have put in it, but his opinion wasn’t asked.</p><p>            “I’ve got a few days off before anybody starts getting worried. I packed my toothbrush and everything,” he answered with a smirk.</p><p>            She smiled back in her usual sly way.</p><p>            “Good. Maybe you can help me out while you’re here too, hm?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            Leon brought the axe down with a smooth swing, splitting the half of a log into two smaller pieces. He threw the two new pieces of firewood onto a slowly growing pile.</p><p>            “I’m starting to suspect you called me out here just to do your chores,” he huffed, setting another log on the block. It had taken him a few tries to get it right. He was going on ancient boy scout knowledge at this point.</p><p>            “You’ve got to pull your weight at the cabin, that wasn’t in the letter? Huh.” Ada was leaning comfortably against the old truck, a cup of steaming tea in her gloved hands. “You wouldn’t want little me to freeze to death up here, would you?”</p><p>            He gave her an unamused look before going back to splitting.</p><p>            “So I guess my first question is…why did you try to kill me in China, or why was there someone who looked like you trying to kill me?”</p><p>            Ada hummed, mulling over her answer. She took another sip of tea, and answered through the steam.</p><p>            “I should have known you’d ask the hard questions first. To put it simply, I wasn’t behaving so Simmons tried to clone me into a version that would behave. She behaved even less than I did.”</p><p>            Leon looked up from his work to listen, tossing two more pieces of wood on the pile blindly. Ada just stared at the leaves on the ground while she continued.</p><p>            “That’s who tried to kill you. Tell me, did you trust her even after that, when you thought she was me?” She tilted her head in curiosity.</p><p>His side-long look and silence as he returned to chopping wood answered her question.</p><p>“You’d vouch for me even if I tried to kill you, huh… that’s not a good move, you know.”</p><p>“Everything was confusing in China. People I knew were coming out of the woodworks and I had no idea what was going on. I figured you had a good reason.”</p><p>“Well now you know better.”</p><p>“Yeah, but not enough to not drive up a mountain when you send me one vague note…”</p><p>She smirked slyly and went back to sipping her tea. Leon took a break from chopping, sweat starting to bead on his brow.</p><p>“Why did you come here, Leon?”</p><p>“What do you mean? You invited me.”</p><p>“I mean what do you want from me. You’re always telling me to wait. To come back. I’m here now and not going anywhere, so what is it that you want?”</p><p>It was Leon’s turn to stare at the leaves, putting together his answer.</p><p>“That’s a good question… you’ve been around at the worst, most dangerous times in my life so far, and I guess…I just want to know who you are.”</p><p>“You’d better be careful with that. Are you sure you don’t just like chasing a mystery?”</p><p>He huffed.</p><p>“Not sure if I know the answer to that yet…”</p><p>Ada pushed off of the truck lightly, looking towards the forest, and the mountains she could see peeking between them.</p><p>“Well you’ll have plenty of time to figure it out. The weather’s going to pick up tonight, and you’ll probably be trapped up here for a few days if the road gets snowed over. So you can either leave before tonight with the answers you’ve got, or stay a while and see what you can figure out.” She ambled past him, her boots crunching on the dry leaves as she stepped back inside.</p><p>Leon watched her go, very aware she was straight up leaving him to do her wood chopping while she sat in the cozy warm cabin. He shook his head and put another log on the block.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>While he had come fully prepared with an arsenal of protein bars and an entire cannister of raw oatmeal, Leon was grateful that Ada had better plans for dinner. The smell of a rustic sort of beef and vegetable stew had smacked him in the face when he stepped back inside. Maybe she wasn’t just lounging with a martini while he worked out there after all.</p><p>“So…is this the end of your running around in the shadows? You’re just going to live up here and call me every year to chop firewood?” he asked over his bowl of stew. Ada smiled wryly.</p><p>“No, I intend to keep slinking around, seeing what trouble I can get into for a while yet. I just needed a little break is all.” Her smile fell a bit, and she got a more contemplative look. “I’m pretty used to the messes we get into where Umbrella is involved, but… China was different. It was personal, a little too close.” She distractedly moved a short lock of hair from her face.</p><p>Leon had a snarky comment about her waiting for the BSAA to clean up the mess pre-loaded in his head, but he bit his tongue. If she had even an ounce more honesty and sincerity with him than usual, he wasn’t about to ruin it.</p><p>“I didn’t take you for the log-cabin-on-a-mountain type, you know. I thought you’d have a fancy apartment in the city.”</p><p>“Where anyone can find me? Hardly.” She sat back in the chair in a lazy way. “Even if I did stay in the city, it would be in little inns where you can buy a room with cash. Like you said, in the shadows.”</p><p>They both looked up when the door creaked, only to realize the wind had just picked up outside.</p><p>“Oh yeah, it does that when the wind blows. You don’t need to shoot anything, I promise.” He hadn’t even realized his hand was tucked into his jacket, halfway to his pistol. He cleared his throat and pulled it back, grabbing the spoon instead…only to realize his bowl was empty.</p><p>“Guess you were right about the weather… and sorry. I’m just a little jumpy lately.”</p><p>“I can’t <em>imagine</em> why,” she said, smirking, then stood up with a stretch. Leon collected the two empty bowls and moved them to the sink. The sky out the window had gotten darker quickly once the sun set below the mountains. “I’ll show you your room and you can go put your cute jammies on.”</p><p>He narrowed his eyes at her, but she was already heading for the back of the cabin. He jogged to keep up.</p><p>The room was small, but the cabin itself wasn’t very big to begin with. The bed took up most of the room, with a closet for his things. A quaint, colorful quilt covered the bed and a simple lamp sat on a nearby nightstand. He started to wonder if she had moved in right after an old couple died or something; it sure didn’t seem like her style. But then, neither did shabby little hotel rooms.</p><p>“It gets a little cold, so you’ll want to bundle up.” She ambled back out of the room, presumably to put on her own ‘jammies’ which Leon was now accepting might just be a big T shirt and sweatpants at this rate.</p><p>He grabbed his gear from where he’d set it in the living room before going back to the tiny guest room. He then pulled on a thermal shirt and sweatpants of his own, which happened to be the nicest ones he had. He hadn’t exactly been invited to a sleepover before, and definitely not one with a lady, and absolutely not one with just him and Ada Wong, even if she was sleeping in a completely separate room.</p><p>He walked back out into the living room to find her already there, lounging by the fire, in an unexpectedly fancy set of velvet pajama pants and tank top, with a slinky satin robe on top of it. It was much more in line with her over-the-top style he remembered in past adventures.</p><p>He could have sat anywhere, in one of the chairs, or at the other end of the couch, on the floor even, but he chose to ease himself right down onto the couch next to her. She smiled lightly, and they both watched the flames crackle and flicker for a while to the tune of wind whipping outside.</p><p>For just a few moments, more so than the last decade, Leon felt like he knew her, like they’d been friends long enough that they could sit quietly without needing to talk.</p><p>And then he figured it was probably because neither of them could think of anything to say. He mused while he glanced outside, snowflakes flicking past the glass briefly.</p><p>“How long have you been up here?” He asked quietly.</p><p>She hummed, never looking away from the flames.</p><p>“About two months.”</p><p>            There was another long pause before Leon managed to ask what was on his mind.</p><p>            “Does it get lonely?”</p><p>            Ada glanced sidelong at him, finally tearing her gaze from the fire, but didn’t quite meet his eyes.</p><p>            “I’m used to hiding around other people. Familiar strangers I see around town. There’s no one up here but me, the trees, and my thoughts…it does get lonely.”</p><p>            He started putting two and two together, and smiled faintly. His arm conveniently fell across the back of the couch behind her.</p><p>            “So I’m the familiar stranger you have on speed dial. Or…in your address book I guess.”</p><p>            She smirked.</p><p>            “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I just called you up here to chop firewood.”</p><p>            The two glanced at each other with a smile, eyes meeting. They both seemed like they expected the other to look away first, and held their quiet exchange until Leon snickered, going back to watching the fire for a few more minutes.</p><p>            Then Ada finally shifted, slowly standing up with an exaggerated yawn.</p><p>            “Well, I recommend you get plenty of sleep. You look like you need it.”</p><p>            And with that, she disappeared into the hallway.</p><p>            Leon huffed, but he was still smiling. He got up as well and made his way to his room to bundle up for the night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            Ada’s eyes cracked open groggily. It was the middle of the night, some time in the very early A.M., and the wind had slowed down outside now… Did she hear something? She wasn’t sure what had pulled her from sleep, and started to drift off again.</p><p>The faint sound was there again. It was indistinct, but it sounded like her guest in the other room. She slowly emerged from the mound of blankets and pulled on her robe and slippers, hesitantly making her way to his room.</p><p>            She could make Leon’s shape out dimly in the dark room, loosely draped with blankets and laying on his side, and it took her a moment to notice that he would shake occasionally. The uneasy noises seemed to be from him as well, reacting to something in his dream world. A grimace or a look of fear would cross his face frequently. She watched him curiously, hoping he wouldn’t wake up and see her standing there looking incredibly suspicious.</p><p>            He suddenly opened his eyes and swore, jolting in bed and making Ada jump as well. He looked around while propped up on his elbow, breathing heavily, eyes darting in the darkness.</p><p>            “Leon…” she said in a voice just barely above a whisper. “You’re alright.”</p><p>            He started to tense and raised his arm at her voice, then just let out a sigh and laid back down on the pillow.</p><p>            “Sorry… didn’t mean to wake you up.”</p><p>She sat on the edge of the bed and leaned on his shoulder. His breaths slowly calmed down and became more even.</p><p>“I’d hoped I was done having those…I’m fine.”</p><p>She stayed with him like that for a little while, until he was calm enough that he seemed to drift off again. She then carefully got up and shuffled back to her room, but it was harder for her to get back to sleep. Her image of him as the invincible, zombie-fighting good-boy had cracked just a bit.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>            “So what was it?” Ada asked, stepping through the smooth, unbroken snow.</p><p>            Leon sipped the coffee he had in a thermos and plodded along beside her.  </p><p>            “A long dark hallway. A plaga regenerator. Kind of mixed with the things in China… And uh… you, at some point. I woke up when the thing started sprinting at me and screaming.”</p><p>            Ada furrowed her brows.</p><p>            “Do you have a lot of dreams like that?”</p><p>            He shrugged.</p><p>            “It comes and goes. More frequently lately.”</p><p>            The weather during the night had dropped about a foot of snow on top of the mountain, blanketing the area in an incredible quiet. Their steps were the loudest thing around if they didn’t talk. Scraggly seasonal trees cut a sharp contrast against the smooth snow, and the evergreens between them carried white mounds on their branches.</p><p>            “Have you talked to anybody about it?”</p><p>            Leon huffed.</p><p>            “What, you think they’re gonna let me go talk about my secret government mission trauma with a therapist? Tell them all about the Umbrella-brand zombie monsters?”</p><p>            “Maybe they have government-approved therapists on standby?”</p><p>            “Hmph. Not in the BSAA. Not a whole lot of people I can talk to about it.”</p><p>            Ada glanced at him as he sipped his steaming coffee again, then went back to watching her steps.</p><p>            “I never knew it was a problem. You always seemed like you knew what you were doing…confident.”</p><p>            “You didn’t exactly hang around to see anything other than the most dangerous parts…”</p><p>            “…Fair point.”</p><p>            They walked a little ways in silence before Leon spoke up.</p><p>            “Has it ever bothered you? You always seemed like you knew exactly what you were doing too…whatever that was.”</p><p>            She got a wry little smirk, a subtle thing that was more noticeable now that she had her burgundy lipstick on. Her makeup had magically reappeared that morning, he noticed, even though it was just the two of them.</p><p>            “Aside from needing to take a break after the last one, no. You were thrown into the mess, but this is what I signed up to do.”</p><p>            “Huh. So you thrive on it.”</p><p>            “You could put it that way.”</p><p>            He just shook his head with a little smile.</p><p>            “I should have guessed. I don’t exactly—”</p><p>            <em>Whump</em></p><p>            He startled and whipped around, only for Ada to sigh and tug on his jacket, turning him back around.</p><p>            “It’s a pile of snow falling off a tree, stop freaking me out.” She stooped while she walked, gathering a little ball of snow in her gloved hands.</p><p>            He grimaced and shoved his hand back into his pocket, marching onward beside her.</p><p>            “As I was uh…saying…I don’t exactly do well in new places either, lately. I feel a lot safer when I’m back in my apartment, and nothing’s exploding, and no one’s trying to stab me…” Ada looked up at him with a slightly surprised glance, which he met with a tired one. “If it had been anyone else writing that letter, I’m not sure I would have even driven out here.”</p><p>            “I think you would have… you’ve run into places you don’t know before and saved the day plenty of times. You didn’t know what you were up against in Racoon City either.”</p><p>            “And I got shot.”</p><p>            “…Or in Spain.”</p><p>            “Where I got infected with a parasite.”</p><p>            “China?”</p><p>            “Everything exploded, I crashed a helicopter and a plane, your clone tried to kill me, I almost got eaten by a meat dinosaur named Simmons—"</p><p>            “Okay, okay, I’m starting to see your point. Maybe chasing down B.O.W.s isn’t a healthy career choice.” She looked down at the little ball of snow in her hands with an unreadable, distant expression. “To be honest I was going to throw this at you, but now I’m worried you’ll have a panic attack if I do.”</p><p>            Leon slowed to a stop, causing Ada to stop a few feet ahead and look back at him curiously. He stared at her with a blank look, then closed his thermos and tucked it into his jacket pocket.</p><p>            “You’re telling me…” He stooped and began to gather a much larger ball of snow. “That you were going to just going to throw a snowball…” He started packing it into a softball-sized wad of ammunition, and Ada started running as well as she could through the foot of snow with a laugh. “At an innocent, unarmed government agent—” He punctuated the statement by hurling the snowball, only to be pelted in the chest with a tinier one at the same time.</p><p>            Within seconds it was war, and the two were chasing each other between the trees. Half-packed wads of snow went sailing, frequently disintegrating midair. With two highly trained professionals, however, they almost always either showered the other in snow or hit with a satisfying <em>smack.</em></p><p>            “If you fall in the creek I’m not coming to rescue you!” Ada yelled across the snow, ducking behind a tree as a snowball went sailing past.</p><p>            “What creek?” He started gathering another shot.</p><p>            “The little one over—AIYEEK”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            Ada shivered with an unamused look on her face, wrapped tightly in a blanket. She was huddled on the couch right up to Leon, who had both arms around the blanket bundle, and a rather smug look on his face that he was having a hard time hiding.</p><p>            “I’m sorry, It’s just… the irony of it…”</p><p>            “I’m going to dump ice cubes in your bed tonight.”</p><p>            “Does this mean I won?”</p><p>            “An entire <em>gallon</em> of ice cubes.”</p><p>            “Oh come on, don’t be like that…” He grinned and laid his head on top of hers. There was warmth radiating from her, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t from the blankets.</p><p>            She eventually stopped shivering, but she also didn’t make any moves to leave her current position. The fire that Leon had (eventually) managed to get going crackled away in the fireplace.</p><p>            “You asked me why I came here,” he said quietly. “But why did you send that letter? What did <em>you</em> want to know?”</p><p>            Ada was quiet for several moments before she answered.</p><p>            “I just wanted to know… if you were okay.” She looked up at him, head against his chest.</p><p>            He huffed.</p><p>            “That’s a good question isn’t it… let me know if you find the answer.”</p><p>            She started to shift and then crossed her legs over his, keeping herself on his side like a leech. A heat-leech.</p><p>            “The answer is that you need a year of vacation and a therapist—”</p><p>            “Never mind, you can keep the answer.”</p><p>            “<em>Leon.</em>”</p><p>            He smirked down at her.</p><p>            “This is worth a year of vacation, and you’re doing a great job of being a therapist.”</p><p>            Ada rolled her eyes.</p><p>            “But really, what are you going to do? You can’t keep this up forever.”</p><p>            He gave a short <em>hm</em> as he thought.</p><p>            “I know. I won’t. I’ll get out before it gets to be too much. I did grow a little bit of self-preservation, you know.”</p><p>            She seemed satisfied with that answer and snuggled down further.</p><p>            “Good.”</p><p>            He tucked a thin lock of her damp hair behind her ear and then laid his head back on the couch, closing his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>He knew he’d have to leave tomorrow, with plenty of questions still unanswered no matter how long they talked into the night. Not knowing everything about her was something he was learning to accept, but he realized he didn’t mind it too much. Maybe it would drive him crazy eventually, but maybe she was right, and chasing the mystery was part of the fun.</p><p>For now, the crackle of the fire kept him anchored in the present. He decided that right here, this was the time and place he would go back to when things inevitably got ugly again. For just a few days, he was right where he wanted to be.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>            Leon twirled his keycard around on the lanyard, strolling past the desks in the BSAA office with a cup of coffee in hand.</p><p>            “ZERO contact for three days, Leon? You asked to have a three-day break, not drop off the map completely!”</p><p>            Hunnigan’s voice was immediately recognizable as he strode past her desk in particular.</p><p>            “Sorry, no cell service.” There was not an ounce of ‘sorry’ in his voice before he started sipping his coffee loudly.</p><p>            “This is a <em>government </em>job, Leon. What was so important that you had to go dark with no warning?”</p><p>            He shrugged with a smirk.</p><p>            “Camping trip.”</p><p>            He left Hunnigan to her incredibly unamused self and headed off to investigate the next paranoid lead in the file.</p>
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